Dubai's highest court rejects appeal over Arabian Ranches double murder

Construction worker stabbed sleeping couple in 2020 in what prosecutors said was a planned attack

Hiren and Vidhi Adhiya were killed when an intruder broke into their Dubai villa. Their two daughters survived. Photo: Adhiya family

A man convicted of the murder of an Indian couple three years ago has lost his appeal against the death sentence at Dubai's highest court.

The construction worker, 26 at the time, stabbed Hiren and Vidhi Adhiya as they slept at their home in Mirador, Arabian Ranches, Dubai, on June 17, 2020.

He was found guilty of the couple's murder by Dubai Criminal Court in April last year.

Appeals were heard at Dubai Court of First Instance and Dubai Court of Appeal, both of which upheld the verdict.

The Dubai Court of Cassation judgment said the sentence would be carried out once approved by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, according to criminal procedures law.

Planned to steal cash and jewellery

The couple were found dead at a villa in the Mirador district of Arabian Ranches on the outskirts of Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

During the initial hearing at Dubai Criminal Court, judges were told the Pakistani man had hidden outside the home of Hiren Adhiya, 48, and Vidhi Adhiya, 40, for six hours.

After the lights went off, he snuck into the villa through an unlocked patio door. He planned to steal money and jewellery he had seen in the house when he worked with a maintenance team in December 2019.

After stealing Dh1,965 ($535) in cash from a wallet on the ground floor, he went upstairs to search for more.

Mr Adhiya woke to the sound of his bedside drawer opening and the intruder stabbed him to death before turning to his wife.

Forensic reports revealed Mr Adhiya was stabbed 10 times in the head, chest, abdomen and left shoulder.

His wife was stabbed 14 times in her head, neck, chest, face, ear and right arm. The knife was found to have penetrated their blanket several times.

As the attacker walked out of the bedroom, he met the couple’s daughter, then aged 18, and stabbed her in the neck.

The girl and her younger sister, then 13, called the police and one of her father’s friends.

Investigators found a bloody handprint on the wall and samples taken from a mask found on the victims’ bed matched the man’s DNA.

The knife used in the murder was found about 500 metres from the villa.

The man was arrested in Sharjah the following day and, during questioning, he admitted to premeditated murder, attempted murder and theft.

He told prosecutors his mother in Pakistan had fallen ill three days before the murder and he was thinking of ways he could provide her with money.

When he first appeared in court in November 2020, he changed his plea and denied all charges.

The eldest daughter told judges that about 1.30am that night she had heard cries for help from her parents' bedroom.

She used the torch light on her mobile phone to check on what was happening upstairs.

“I met him at the room’s door and he stabbed me at sight but I kicked him before he fled,” she told judges.

A friend of her father said the girl had called him at 2am and was hysterical.

“She was screaming and her mother was dead and her father was still moving and [she said] that she was stabbed too,” he said in court.

“I thought she had a nightmare at first but when my wife and I arrived at the villa we saw police and an ambulance.”

Throughout court proceedings, prosecutors sought the death penalty against the man, stressing that the crime had been planned.